Elder Andersen Shares Heartbreaking, Hopeful Story: LDS Family Loses Little Girl the Day Before Her Brother Was Born

Recently on Facebook, Elder Neil L. Andersen talked about his trip to Arizona last month when he visited the Eagar family in the midst of a tragedy and a blessing. After having just lost their 4-year-old daughter, the mother of this little girl went into labor, giving birth to a little boy early the next morning.

Through all of this, the members of the Eagar's local ward reached out to help the family who just moved to a new home:

While in Arizona last month, Elder L. Whitney Clayton and I went to see the Eagar family who had just experienced a tragedy. This young family had just moved into a new home a few blocks away. Their children were still not very familiar with the roads. Through no one’s error, but unfortunately standing just maybe 50 feet from their house, their little four-year-old girl darted out into the traffic and was killed instantly.

They had at that time three children. The mother was in the house and, of course, was distraught about this. She was pregnant, and went into labor later that afternoon. Little Harvey was born the next morning. By the time we got over there to visit this family, they had just come home from the hospital. Although there were a lot of tears shed during the visit, we all took a deep breath and put on our best faces to rejoice in the innocence and blessing of having Harvey join the Eagar family. I held him and Elder Clayton and I gave what comfort we could in a very difficult situation.

Two things came to my mind: first, sometimes people think it’s difficult to be a member of the Church, to keep the commandments, and to strengthen our faith. But in times like this, which happen to all of us at sometime in our life, that faith comes back to make life livable. Without it, life would be so much more difficult. Many times we don’t realize that we are putting an investment into our pail of faith for times like these.

Second, while the mother went to the hospital, ward members, family, and close friends came over. The Eagar family’s belongings were still in boxes. These wonderful people put in hours of work to put the house together. What a kindness! Instead of just sympathizing with them, instead of just saying, “Oh I’m so sorry!”, they actually went to work. So when the mother came home from the hospital, of course she was saddened thinking of her beautiful little girl, but to walk into the house and see so much done for her, it lifted her spirits and helped give her hope and happiness. What a wonderful thing for them to do.